Health and safety regulations require hypodermic needles to be properly disposed of so that used needles cannot be reused and to the lessen the risk of transmission of communicable diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS. Various devices have been proposed to address these concerns. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,918 (Mayer) discloses a needle disposal apparatus that allows the resheathing of a hypodermic needle as well as a container for the storage and disposal of the hypodermic needle after the needle has been resheathed.
Other devices have been proposed to render the hypodermic needle unusable prior to disposal. There are prior art needle disposal apparatuses that burn the needle by placing the end of the needle between two electrodes. The positioning of the end of the needle between the two electrodes causes electricity to arc from the electrodes to the end of the needle. The voltage being carried by the electrodes causes the end of the needle to be burned or melted. With the opening in the end of the needle being closed by this arcing from the electrode, the needle may then be safely disposed of.
Representative of these needle burner devices are the apparatuses shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,469 (Ch'ing-Lung) which shows a container that receives the needle head through an opening in the cover thereof. As the needle head is inserted into the interior of the container, the needle head comes into contact with a pair of electrodes. The needle head completes the circuit between the pair of electrodes and the current flowing through the needle head melts the head of the needle closing the opening therein and rendering the needle unusable. Similar needle burning devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,934; U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,541; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,426.
There are drawbacks to these prior art needle burners. In order to introduce the needle between the electrodes, the needle is usually manually inserted into the needle burner. While a needle guide is used to assist in the introduction of the needle, the fact that the needle is manually inserted means that the depth of insertion of the needle is dependent on the ability and attention of the operator. If the needle is not inserted to the required depth to reach the electrodes, the end of the needle with the opening will not be properly burned and the needle may remain usable. Even if the needle is inserted to the required depth to reach the electrodes, the needle may not be held between the electrodes long enough to achieve the required degree of melting to completely close the opening in the end of the needle.
Additionally, premature wear of the electrode can occur since, in most prior art devices, the electrode remains stationary and the end of the needle contacts the same location on the electrode each time a needle is inserted for burning.
The burning of the end of the needle between the electrodes may also emit noxious or harmful fumes depending on the material from which the needle is made or depending on the residue of the liquid remaining in the needle after its hypodermic use. Unless these fumes are handled in a safe and careful manner, a health hazard may exist in the vicinity of the needle burner.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved needle burner apparatus that controls the insertion of the needle into contact with the electrode to ensure that proper burning of the needle is accomplished and to prevent premature wear of the electrode.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved needle burner apparatus that handles the noxious or harmful fumes that are created during the process of burning the end of the needle.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a needle burner apparatus that includes an electrode that rotates about a horizontal axis and also reciprocates horizontally to continuously provide a varying contact point between the end of the needle and the electrode.
It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a spring-biased needle insertion plate to control the depth of penetration of the end of the needle as the needle comes into contact with the electrode.
It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a needle burner apparatus that includes an exhaust fan with a charcoal filer to control and treat any noxious or harmful fumes that may be generated during the needle burning process before the exhaust gases are released to the surrounding area.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the needle burning process will be controlled to ensure that the end of each needle is properly burned and closed off so that the needle will not be reusable and that any noxious or harmful fumes generated during the needle burning process will be filtered prior to being exhausted from the interior of the needle burning apparatus.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.